What is Earth Dinner?

“The act of putting into your mouth what the earth has grown isperhaps your most direct interaction with the earth.” – Frances Moore Lappé

Have you ever noticed that every holiday has a food tradition—except Earth Day? We thought Earth Day deserved a celebration, too, so back in 2004, we created one. It made sense that an Earth Day food tradition should revolve around local, sustainable and organic cuisine—cuisine that cares for the planet—paired with honest and meaningful discussion about the impact we have (for good or bad) on the environment.

What developed is today a joyful, animated and inspiring, food-focused party held at least once a year, connecting people to the earth, their food and each other.

We kick off Earth Dinners on Earth Day, but an Earth Dinner can be held at any time of the year (for example, harvest time is a perfect time for local, seasonal foods). Make it Earth Day any day!

We believe incorporating the philosophies of supporting local, sustainable and organic foods will help keep our planet’s land, air, water and inhabitants healthy for generations to come.

Recent Earth Dinner Posts

As an intern at Organic Valley this summer, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know a group of incredibly smart, kind, and innovative interns. We’ve all wholeheartedly embraced the unique culture at Organic Valley, and its cooperative spirit of collaboration and progress. For such a special group, I knew I needed to host an …

Thanksgiving is the easiest time of year to “eat local and organic,” for the simple reason that nearly everything that appears on a traditional Thanksgiving dinner table has its roots in local, seasonal, organic foods. And that’s because Native Americans, and the Pilgrims they shared their food with, ate organic food long before it was called organic. Our …

This year the first night of Passover fell on the same day as Earth Day. What a fantastic way to celebrate history, tradition and of course, food. Oddly enough, I am, and always have been, a secular individual. However, this year in a discussion with co-workers it seemed like there was interest in putting together …

Download the Earth Dinner Toolkit

What’s an Earth Dinner Look Like?

Earth Dinner Dishes

We are farmer-owners and staff of CROPP Cooperative out to save family farming culture through organic farming. Along the way, we're sharing our unique cooperative culture and homegrown expertise—from farming and gardening to kids and cooking and more.